Whiter Shade of Pale-The Missing Chapters
by Redemption by Fire
Summary: A two parter of missing chapters from Whiter Shade of Pale. Please read this story first, or this will not make sense. Rumplestiltskin and Belle reunite, Henry in love, Regina's happy beginning and what happened to Baelfire.
1. The bigger man and the bigger picture

I had originally left out these chapters because it messed with the flow of my story, Whiter Shade of Pale. But here they are in case any of my followers wanted them. I assure you these chapters will make zero sense without reading the previous story, so I suggest people starting there. Thanks!

Here is the rest of my story, and I'm posting the first of two parts today in honor of the breakup and the starting over that we saw this Sunday with Rumplestiltskin and Belle. Over Bae. :)

And while season 2 appears to be making Bae and Emma appear to be a former item, I still like the idea that I will now present and I have yet to see it play out in anyone else's fanfiction. So here is to Regina's new life and possibly love!

***  
Rumplestiltskin, or rather Mr. Gold as he went by outside of Storybrooke, was sitting all alone at a bar. With his third shot of whiskey. His name ought to be Mr. Poor now, since his last bit of money had just been spent on those three shots of whiskey.  
He had spent everything he owned. All the properties in Storybrooke had been sold, to various residents, those too foolish or too stubborn to leave. Mostly for under market value, if Mr. Gold wanted to be technical, but he supposed it was only fair that he was considerate of people's financial status. He after all had determined that about most of the townspeople's lives.  
It had still amounted to a pretty fair sum of money. But all the money hadn't gotten him what he really wanted. His son. Even in an era of digital technology, he had come up with nothing. He couldn't know where his son had dropped or even what his name was. His son obviously didn't go by Baelfire anymore and with no location of origin and nothing but a sketch of his son at age 12, he had no luck.  
As much as he hated the idea, his options were this. Throw himself off a bridge somewhere, bum on the street or crawl back to Storybrooke and those who hated him, but at least wouldn't let him starve. At least Emma hopefully wouldn't.  
And he was still a prideful coward, so none of those options were looking promising.

"It's all my fault and I can't fix it. Never." He moaned to the bartender.

"Never say never." A voice spoke behind him. "Then you'd be going back on a promise, when you succeed."  
The voice sounded very familiar. But it couldn't be. Mr. Gold turned quickly almost falling off the stool.  
It was. Belle.

She looked different. She was wearing tennis shoes, torn jeans and a dressy shirt. Long earrings dangled from pierced ears. She looked comfortable, but classy and not angry at him.  
"You are an easy man to find, Mr. Gold." She smiled, emphasising his name. "One has merely to follow the smell of desperation and a trail of money."  
Mr. Gold sighed, his pride already wounded. "I thought you said you were never speaking to me again."  
Belle smiled. "Good thing I'm not known for my keeping my promises." It was a smile of pity and sadness. And wounded pride.  
"What are you here for?" Mr. Gold muttered bitterly. "Not that it isn't great to see you..." He added quickly. "It's just...well if you are here merely to verbally abuse me and rub my failings in my face, I can stand the not talking."  
Hurt flashed across Belle's face. "Is that what you think this is?"  
Mr. Gold frowned. "It isn't?"  
Belle shook her head no aggressively. She pulled out a newspaper clipping from her purse. She laid it on the table in front of him.  
Mr. Gold studied the paper. It was a two month old article from the New York Times society page. The headline stated, **_Prize Throughbred, Shadowchaser, ridden to the rescue at local countryside gala._**  
A picture of what looked to be Regina Mills in the most incredible dress, sitting dress hiked up and sitting bareback on a horse, a 16 year old girl, being held up by her arm, passed out.  
The article went to describe the rescue in detail and that the family had been anything, but understanding. A lawsuit was under-way and Regina had been fired from her high society fashion job. And her wealthy boyfriend had broken things off when she had told the horse's wealthy owner where to stick it.

"She sounds miserable." Mr. Gold muttered. "All over again."  
Belle smiled. "Are you kidding? She hated that job. She hated her employer and her boyfriend of the week."  
Mr. Gold frowned. "Have you been following her?"  
Belle sheepishly nodded. "From a distance. I didn't want to interfere."  
She pulled out another article. It read, **_"I'd do it again."_ **It was a quick blurb, after Regina had apparently lost the lawsuit. When asked if she would do it again or do anything differently, considering the consequences, it quoted Regina as having said, _"Next time, I'll wear underwear under my fancy dress."_

Mr. Gold sadly chuckled. "That sounds like Regina. Still enjoying making people squirm."  
He moved the last swallow of whiskey around in the glass. "Guess that makes two penniless people."  
Belle smiled. "But she is happy, finally."  
Mr. Gold raised an eyebrow.  
"She may be living in the tiniest flat in New York, up to her eyeballs in debt. But she has finally found a job she likes. And she is engaged." Belle clarified.  
Mr. Gold mused on that. Regina in love again. Miracles did happen it seemed. "To whom?"  
"Does it matter?" Belle shrugged. "They are happy. They seem great for each other. They had been friends for several years already and he is great for her."

"Do you know him?" Mr. Gold asked curiously. It sounded from Belle's voice like she did.  
"I met him 4 years ago. He is a great guy. He knows what it is like to have to fight to be a better man everyday. That even the kindest of people, can fall to temptation. To feel like they could fix things if only they had more power. That anyone can be become the Dark One." Belle's smiled faded and she met his eyes seriously.  
Mr. Gold sighed. "Wait? What?" He raised his eyes.  
He grabbed Belle's shoulders. "How old is he?"  
Belle met his eyes fiercely. "7 years older than Regina. And 12 years older than Emma. So 45."  
"And where did he grow up?" He pushed.  
Belle continued her stern gaze. "He has lived in New York since he was 18. But he lived on a farm in Pennsylvania since he was 12. Where he was found lying in a pigsty one morning. An event, he avoids speaking about." She softly spoke the last few words. "I could go on."

Mr. Gold paled. "Do you think that he is Baelfire?"  
Belle nodded. She unfolded a copy of the sketch that Mr. Gold had posted around of 12 year old Baelfire. Then she set a photo down a middle age man who matched his physical description, in a EMT uniform. Bae was always taking care of him and he certainly wasn't afraid of blood or battle. It seemed like a career he would have chosen.  
Mr. Gold squinted. The still rather handsome middle age man looked happy, his smile genuine, showing through his eyes. Mr. Gold covered most of the face, staring at only the eyes.  
It had been so long. Mr. Gold wasn't sure.  
"Have you been looking the whole time?" He asked Belle with surprise.  
Belle shook her head.

"The real question is what are you going to do about it?" She asked very seriously.  
Mr. Gold was silent. He stared at the two images.  
"You know him, at least a little. Do you think that he would be better off seeing me? Reconnecting?" Mr. Gold asked nervously.  
Belle shrugged, but smiled. "Maybe."  
She leaned in closer, dangerous fire in her eyes. "But would Regina be better off? Knowing he was your son?"  
Mr. Gold frowned.  
He had crossed time and space and perhaps even realms of existence to find a son. A son whom he had lost, but who wasn't even his. Not really. He had always known that he wasn't really Bae's father. But still he had loved him fiercely, and he had fought tooth and nail to have him near him again. He had screwed so many people's lives in his desperation. Especially Regina's. His own real and true flesh and blood. His great, great, great, great, great granddaughter.  
Most of all Regina's.  
"Probably not." He answered truthfully and sorrowfully.

And here his son was. Rumplestiltskin was sure that Belle was right. He trusted her instincts. So close and yet so far.  
He folded the piece of paper and handed back the photo. "I don't think this is him. The similarities are there, but I don't think this is him." He said it without conviction however and Belle didn't believe he really thought that.  
"So you aren't even going to pursue this lead?" Belle asked, raising an eyebrow.  
Mr. Gold shook his head. He could be a bigger man...he could.  
"Not worth it, in the long run. Why mess with Regina's happiness on a vague possibility?"

And suddenly Belle was kissing him. Without his magic, there was no way to see if it was true love's kiss. There was no curse to eliminate. He would never again be sure of the depth of her affection as he had known that moment in his castle. There was no magical transformation. There was no fireworks, no bells ringing. There was just her warm lips on his. For the first time, he responded back.  
If he had to know about his son through Belle, so be it.  
If you loved someone, sometimes you had to let them go. Because it was best for them at that moment.  
But maybe one day...  
Rumplestiltskin's last thought was cut short by another kiss.

***  
Mayor Emma heard the motorbike pull up into the driveway and she knew something was wrong. Henry was not due back from college yet, yet here he was.  
"August!" She yelled running across Regina's old, newly restored mansion. "Henry's here... And I think that he's hurting."  
NYC had done two things. Helped Henry and Regina forge a new and gentler, more stable relationship, and it had made him angry and bitter. But those two things did not go together. The later was because of Carrie. Just as Emma always suspected, Henry did not fall into relationships easily, but when he did, he played for keeps.  
New York was full of bitter and lost women. Emma knew this. And Henry seemed to be attracted to those kind, yearning to be that which brought them love and acceptance.  
And he was becoming a psychologist, which Emma was sure was not making it any better. The only good thing that came from that was that Henry had the sense to see a relationship bringing him down in flames and would finally have the sense to break it off.  
Carrie, the beautiful, but tragic artist, had however been the first to break it off with him and Henry on the phone had sounded like he wasn't taking it well.

"Mommy! Henry slammed the door."  
Emma shushed her tattling little girl of 6. "I know. I know. And I will talk to him about it." She handed her kid a coloring book. "Why don't you color Henry a picture?"  
The blondie smiled. "With all his favorite colors." She loved coloring, so she ran off to the other room.  
Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath and sat down at the kitchen counter.  
"It gets easier with practice, doesn't it?" Henry mumbled and smiled weakly at her. "See, you are doing just fine. She felt accepted, was given a purposeful task and I am not going to get away with breaking a rule, so all is well in her world." He gave a half smile.

Emma smiled back. Henry loved his little sister. She had been afraid when she and August had her that Henry would feel jealous or second best. But he was more worried about the little girl feeling the same way. Emma laughed, thinking of this.

"What?" Henry sighed.  
"Nothing, just remembering the early years. I seriously did not know what I was doing. You were a big help." Emma smiled. How Henry had grown so since then. And not just in height, though he was tall and firmly built. A real catch, physically and otherwise.

Henry gave a smile back, but it soon faded. "Carrie and I are over."  
Emma gave him a compassionate smile. "I figured from the early trip back home, and your angst and surely demeanour."

Henry gave a deep sigh. He looked up at the ceiling and placed his helmet on the counter. "I thought about her all the time and I still do. She made me smile and I did the same for her. But most of all, she was the only one to read my rough draft of the storybook and not think I was crazy. She saw it as a metaphor at first, a childhood tale second, and when she happened to meet Regina, she wouldn't talk for weeks. Then she came back with a picture. Straight out of the storybook. It looked so much like the ones in the book, like they were drawn by the same hand."  
Henry paused and swallowed hard. Tears escaped. Emma placed her hand on his, like she had done so many times before. Henry took a deep breath and continued. "Then she broke it off with me. She believed me, she supported me, but she refused to stay together. Because she isn't the 'right' woman for me or something. That she doesn't believe there is such a thing as true love or at least love that lasts."  
Emma sighed and Henry handed her the picture, which he unfolded from his pocket. It was the image of Regina holding out a box, for Graham to put Snow White's heart in. It looked straight out of the book. But without the color.  
"She heard the story from me, but she hasn't even seen this picture. And she just met Regina once. How could it be this perfect? If she isn't the one?"  
August had entered the room during this and Emma handed him the picture.  
"Maybe you remain good friends? Maybe she helps you make the book? That doesn't mean she has to be your one." He offered.

Henry put his head down on the table. "But I want it to be her. She is the person who understands me best. I love her, Pinocchio."

August stiffened. Henry never called him Pinocchio, per his request. Always August.

"Love or not, you need to go back for your exams. If it is meant to be, then it can wait until after then to resolve." August replied harshly. "Get your yourself together. Don't throw away a whole 4 years by skipping out on school now. Get your priorities straight here."

"August!" Emma yelled at him. The two men in her life rarely argued, but when they did it usually didn't end well.

Henry was going to jump in on the argument. But a small hand pulled on his coat. "Here is your picture, Henry. I colored it just for you."

Henry took the picture from his little sister. It was a well colored picture of a woman and a man dancing. Why she had selected his one, out of all the other animal and cityscapes in the generic coloring book, was beyond Emma. Perhaps she could sense he was not feeling loved.

This however was not helping. Henry placed it on the counter. "Thank you, Elise." But it was clear he was unhappy.  
He stood and walked out. "I'm going on a walk."

As soon as he left, Emma dug into August. "He will go back, if you let him work through this. This isn't about his career, this is about his life. About love."

"And you don't think I understand this, that somehow I consider love lesser." August yelled back.

Elise began to sob and Emma turned her attention to her. "Hey, we aren't mad at you, baby girl."

"But you are mad at daddy and daddy is mad at Henry and I think Henry is mad at me." Elise sputtered.

Emma picked her up and put her on the counter. "Shh. Henry isn't mad at you. I promise. He is just sad and your picture reminded him of his sadness."

Elise continued to cry, but she placed her head on her mother's shoulder. Emma took a deep breath. Step one, acceptance, than purpose. She could do this.

"Hey, Henry likes..." she tried to think of something Henry liked that would not tear open old or new wounds right now. Henry usually managed just fine, but it was the times like this, that Emma was afraid. Afraid that the deep old wounds were going to do him under one day. "Henry likes ice cream. I think there was a picture of that in the book. Why don't you color that?" Emma suggested.

"Like brown and white, like Rocky Road?" Elise asked. Emma nodded nervously. She wasn't sure that was not going to make things worse either, but she couldn't think of anything else. Elise made motions to jump down and get started.

As soon as Elise was out of hearing range, Emma began to sob. August jumped to embrace her.  
"I can't do this. I can't. Henry is still the glue holding this all together. He knows it and I know it. He needs someone to help him hold himself together. Why her? Why any of them?"

August sighed. "We both met Erin and Katie. When we moved him in or out each summer, he would introduce them to us. This one is different, I can feel it. He can feel it too. This is the one who loves him enough to let him go, instead of clinging to him. This is why it is so hard."

Emma inhaled August's scent. It comforted her. August and her were similar and yet different. Like they rubbed each other then wrong way and yet fit into each other's lives perfectly. Most days it was like this. The warm and comforting embrace instead of the wood on the fire.  
It was work to avoid those moments, so they didn't set themselves emotionally on fire. But luckily, they were both willing to work at it. That was all Carrie needed. Commitment to the relationship on an emotional level.  
Emma frowned. She had taken 3 years of the dance around to finally agree to marry August. And she was still afraid after all these years. Afraid she would screw something up. But then he had admitted that he worried about that too. All the time.

There was the sound of a car outside. Then a frantic knocking at the door. Emma raised an eyebrow and they both moved to the door. It was Carrie. She looked anxious. Her usual makeup was missing and her hair was greasy and had paint specks in it. Like she had rushed from doing art and hadn't bothered to change or shower.  
"Hi, August, Emma. Where's Henry?" She looked around nervously. "I see his bike."  
Emma frowned. "He went on a walk."  
Carrie frowned and tossed her long auburn ponytail around looking about. "Which way?"  
August shrugged. "Probably towards the woods and the playground out there. That's one of his usual hiding places."  
Carrie nodded and bit her lip. She took off running in the direction that August had pointed. Then she ran full tilt past Snow, almost knocking her over. She turned to apologize and did a double take and blinked. Then she stopped in the middle of the street. She pulled out her phone and called someone.  
There was ringing and ringing and it was clear she going to have to leave a voicemail.  
"Henry...I know you are angry with me and I know you came up here, to your home, to be alone. But please come back. I hitched a ride all the way up here just to talk to you in person..."  
She began to stumble over her words.  
Emma and August exited the house and came into the street.  
"It's just that...wow...it really does exist, just as you described it. It bleeds with artistic inspiration and you can almost feel the deep scars...and..." She began to tremble. She hung up the phone.

There was a great silence amongst those gathered. Carrie turned around. "Snow White?"  
Snow flinched slightly, unsure how to address this question. She looked to David, who was coming around the corner holding a little girl's hand. A little girl who looked so much like Snow.

Carrie seemed past that point of caring about a response and turned back towards the woods. Henry was running back from the other side of town. He was out of breath when he stopped.  
So before he could get a word in, Carrie, began rambling. "I know I said we couldn't be together. And yet 24 hours later, here I am. I...my parents...you had me at hello, with that stupid name tag. When I was miserable after my parents divorce, not that it shouldn't have happened, they shouldn't have been together in the first place... but...you saw me crying and told me that everyone has problems, some people just hadn't learn how to handle them. That I shouldn't dwell on what was wrong. But see what good could come from it. And then you took me to that party. And instead of your name, your wrote 'I have mommy issues,' on your nametag..." Carrie began to lightly sob. "And then you got everyone else to write stupid stuff like that, all their problems written on their chest...and suddenly I knew...I knew then, that I loved you. I also knew you loved me too. And I was afraid. Over time, I knew I could also destroy you. I was so afraid that I would. Every fight we'd have...I would wonder if this was it... I didn't want you to need me."

Henry raised a hand and tried to cut off the stream of confessions silently, but Carrie continued on.  
"And then when I broke things off, I told you I didn't need you, you didn't say anything at first. Then you yelled 'of course you don't.' But then when you left in anger, I realized that didn't matter. When I was taking down my art show yesterday alone, I managed just fine without you, just as I had before you. When I told Regina that, she told me that you helped me carry my art to shows, not because I needed the help, but because you wanted to help me. And I remembered. Would you like the help, you would always ask? Not, do you need the help?" Carrie took a deep breath. " I realized last night that, that was perhaps the most romantic thing I could ever want to hear... And I do. Want the help."

She looked like she was going to say more, but Henry cut her off with a sweeping kiss, cupping his hands around her jaw and she grabbing his back. Storybook epic, Emma thought.

He broke it apart. "Now, I can't promise that I won't hurt you or..." She began.  
"Would you like to help me with my storybook?" He asked with a grin.  
"I'd love to." Carrie sighed with a smile.

Elise ran out of the house and up to the two of them. "Here is your new picture, big brother. Rocky Road ice cream. Your favorite."

Henry grinned. "Indeed. Sometimes the truth is in the name. Sometimes the things you have to work for, taste the sweetest."  
Elise frowned in confusion. "Plus, it has marshmallows in it." He smiled at her. She grinned back. "Shall we have some Rocky Road ice cream then?" He asked her.

"Before dinner?" Elise's eyes widened. She looked at Emma and August.

Emma smiled. "I think we can break the rule just this once, eh? For a special occasion." Elise grinned and ran inside, pulling Henry and Carrie with her. Snow and David's younger daughter, Marie, squealed. "Me too?" David chuckled and nodded, leading her inside.

Snow walked around the no longer running car and turned to the woman in the car. "I thought you said you were never coming back here again."

Regina smiled gently. She opened the door and stepped out of the car."One should never say never. You'll end up finding a perfectly good reason to break your promise." She fingered the engagement ring on her left finger with a smile. She also had sworn once that she would never love again. Yet, she had broken that one, over and over again. Thankfully.

Snow watched her subconsciously twist her ring and bit her lip.  
"Oh, ask already. Once a nosy little girl, always a nosy little girl." Regina sighed with a smile.

Snow blushed. "People change sometimes."  
Regina raised her eyebrow.  
"Okay, you're right, this time." Snow licked her lips nervously. Regina suddenly saw a 12 year old girl once again, instead of a woman in her late 30's. "Like what does he do? His name? How did you meet? When did you know?" Snow fluttered. "Are you going to bring him here, one day?"

Regina growled. "Don't push it, Snow."  
Snow apologised. "Of course, how silly. I'd probably just make a mess of this one too..."

The old guilt still remained. Of course it did, she had pretty much burned it in with great amounts of malice. "Shut up, Snow." Regina barked. Then she sighed.

"His name is Richard, but everyone calls him Ricky. He's an EMT. We met on the subway, one morning when my car was stolen. He is all about seeing the best part of the situation and he makes me that way too. He has suffered loneliness in this life and yet he needs his space, just like me. I knew that I was in love, when I was telling a story about him that was not at all funny to Henry and he laughed. I demanded to know what was funny and he told me I was grinning like an idiot the whole way through the story." Regina bit her lip, trying not to smile once again.  
Regina met Snow's eyes. "And I'm not bringing him here, because I don't want to mess this up. I'm not the person I was here, not any more. Why bring it up? I can't lose this too. I'm not strong enough, Snow."

Regina looked back at the front of the restored manor house. The one she had lived in for 29 years. Longest she had ever lived anywhere. Emma and August in the front lawn ushering everyone in for usually forbidden ice cream. A sudden pang of regret and longing hit her and she blinked. Her own guilt. She covered. "We've got to go back. Henry has exams, I hear."

"Come in. Stay for ice cream at least." Snow urged. Regina hesitated. "It isn't my house any more."

"But it still is your home." Snow protested sweetly, with a smile.

Regina sighed. She accepted the truth of this. And the two of them walked into the house together.  
After all, Rocky Road was her favorite ice cream too.


	2. Love is Weakness, thankfully

Part two. Regina and...well...Baelfire. Dedicated to last night's episode, RIP Daniel. And of course to true love, no matter how sorrowful.

_Your weakness is my strength and my weakness is yours. _

Richard Bailey was not having a good day. Having pulled an emergency double shift two days previous, for a friend, he was exhausted physically. Too tired to notice perhaps that his fiancé had all too eagerly agreed to move back their trip to the justice of the peace, for a few more days. And now she hadn't shown up at all.

"Hello, this is Gina. If you are hearing this message, I'm probably sleeping or I have broken yet another phone, since anyone who would be calling me, knows how neurotically I check my phone and yet how easily I break them. Leave a message and I will get back with you as soon as possible. If this is an emergency, Henry, just buzz Ricky..."  
Richard hung up the phone. He had already left three messages. A line was forming and Richard sighed and stepped out. His phone rang.  
Not Gina.  
But it was Henry.  
"Hey, please tell me you have heard from your mom."  
Silence.  
"She isn't coming." Henry sighed, his deep, mature voice lower then usual.  
Richard massaged his forehead. "I figured, since she is 25 minutes late and she is..."  
"Never late for anything... I know." Henry finished sadly.  
"Did the funeral parlor call her in?" Richard asked hopefully. A funny pair they made. EMT and assistant funeral director. Oh the jokes his friends told, when she wasn't present, until Richard had threatened them with refusing to take any more shifts for his buddies.  
"No."

"She got cold feet didn't she?" Richard sighed. "I know she hasn't resolved all of her issues..." Richard felt like the hard surface around both of their hearts would never really be more then scratched between them, but he was patient. But feeling abandoned again, was giving him a headache. Regina was the last person he'd expect to just leave him. The woman never abandoned anything, once she stuck her mind to it, once she clenched her grasp on something, she never truly let go. Like a pitbull.  
Henry heavily sighed over the phone. "Cold feet doesn't begin to describe the meltdown I just witnessed...Baelfire."  
Silence...Richard suddenly couldn't breathe.  
"...Hello?" Henry prodded. "Hello?"  
I will not be a coward. I will not be a coward. I will not...  
"I'm still here." Richard managed to spit out.

More silence. Richard felt his mind spinning.  
"I haven't heard that name since I was 12." Richard managed to eek out again. "Where did you hear that?"  
"So it's true then? What my grandfather told her? You really are Baelfire."  
"I was once called that." Richard sighed. "I don't know about whatever else you heard." A headache was building so fiercely. Henry could have found his old foster paperwork, that had to be it. But how and why?

"I was a crazy, lost little boy, why does that name matter?" Richard half-whined. "Why does any of my crazy story matter?"

"Because she believes you."

Silence. Richard could feel his heart beating a mile a minute. No one ever believed his story. Not as a kid and he certainly wasn't crazy enough to try as an adult.

"I think you should come over." Henry's voice pleaded. "I think you should talk."  
Richard nodded then realised that he couldn't possibly see that. "Sure. Where are you?"  
"I was trying to move out of my apartment, but obviously that hasn't gotten far. You know where that is." Henry replied dryly.  
"Okay, 15 minutes."

Richard hung up. He swore. Gina wouldn't be reacting to this strange, usually unbelievable past this way, if it wasn't so much worse than he had imagined her reaction. He had never brought it up, worried that she would think he was completely off his rocker. And she had never mentioned her childhood, except in the broadest possible terms, so he figured he was safe. This was much worse, she obviously believed him, and that had to mean she was crazy or worse, she knew what being Baelfire meant. Children and adults alike ran from the son of the Dark One, because they knew what that meant. And even in this world, it seemed he would not be free.

Richard boarded the nearest subway. He knew Henry had a thing for fairy tales, writing a thesis paper on the effects of fairy tales on the development of morals in children or something like that, Gina didn't like to discuss it. There was pride in her son and fear mixed together about the topic. Things were starting to click together. Henry's girlfriend had been working on an art show and for the first time, Gina had not wanted to go to one and had even further expressed desire that Richard not attend. Turned out it was about fairy tales.

Richard secretly hated them, so he had not gone. He had found a story about Rumplestiltskin once, in a book, as a teen, and the abject fear and horror that the people of this world knew of his father and either feared or mocked him, a magical imp and coward of childhood tales, who stole children, well he had always half worried that then therefore all the other stories were really true and thus avoided them, mostly to guard his remaining sanity.

Richard tried to clear his head before ringing the doorbell.

Henry opened the door. He looked drawn and tired. His kitchen was full of people, most of whom Richard had never seen before, and it smelled of whiskey. Richard tried not to let the smell call to him. A woman with long blond hair was hiding the bottle behind her back. He knew Emma, Henry's birth mother, having met her once before. And she must have remembered he was a reformed alcoholic at the last moment.  
"So..." Richard began trying not look at Emma.  
"Regina doesn't speak much about you, but I know enough to see that you have made her very happy for many years. It's nice to finally meet you in person, Richard." A beautiful woman with shoulder length black hair held out her hand, breaking the pre-existing tension in the room. "Unless you prefer, Bael..."  
"No." Richard replied coldly.  
She dropped her hand nervously, losing the regal look. "Right..."  
"Who are you?" He asked harshly. "Who are all of you?" He gestured with his arms as well, towards the man in plaid, sitting arms crossed and wounded looking and the rough man in the motorcycle jacket.  
"I'm Prince David, and this is my wife, also known as..."  
"You do not have to right to speak yet." The woman beside him cut him off, her soft eyes flashed in anger at him. "All these years later and you fall to vengeance, really? You started this mess and unless you are going to say something to fix it, then you are not permitted to speak."  
"She deserved to know."  
"She deserved to be happy," the woman combated.  
David closed his mouth and they coldly sat on the couch together.  
"I'm Pinnochio. But please only call me August." August nodded his head in greeting. "And we are the rest of Henry's messed up little family. From your realm." Richard paled.  
"She's in my bedroom, Richard." Henry added quickly.

Richard was torn. These were people from his realm. The first he had seen in many years. But he really didn't want to stay out here where a fight was obviously in place and there was a bottle of whiskey. But then he didn't really want to go into a room to start a fight of his own where he would really want to go back to the whiskey.  
Hell, he already wanted the whiskey. Better just go in and hear the obvious rejection, fear and/or hatred and attempt to move on with his life.  
He closed the bedroom door behind him. Regina looked like she had been crying, her eyes red and her face pale. The usually beautiful, brash, confident woman was gone. Gone was the laughter, the jokes, the spitfire. So was the calm, somber, soothing appearance that she gave off when she was at work or when they were alone. She just looked worn and broken. The deeply wounded woman whom he had caught a glimpse of only a few times.  
"Gina?" he called softly, rising her from her thoughts.  
She met his eyes, and a bit of the fire rose back into them. "Tell me it to my face, Baelfire."

Richard sighed. He bitterly got straight to the point. "Yes, my name was once Baelfire. My father's name was Rumplestiltskin, but to you, I'm sure he is just the Dark One. I tried to get him to changes his ways to follow me to this new world, but I failed. And the fact that you know who he is, and who I am, means you too are from my world. The fact that you are here, means that he is still a menace who destroys lives, just as easily as he rescues them, and I will once again be alone because of it."

Whatever harsh words Regina had planned to say to him, died in her throat. It was like watching the embers of a fire, die down. He sensed slight pity coming from her. He hated pity.  
"So just say what you want to say, and I will leave."

Confusion etched over Regina's face. "You just want me to hurry up and break up with you? After 4 years of friendship, two years together and an engagement ring, you want nothing more from me? No answers to questions, no information about your father? Nothing?"

Richard shook his head, "I'm not sure I'd be strong enough to ask. I'm sure it is all worse than my imagination, what my father has done to get to this world and I would rather live the rest of my life in naivety. Perhaps this makes me a coward, but I don't really care. I have already loved and lost, more than once in this life, my father may have been the first and you will likely not be the last."

This was obviously not the reaction that Regina had expected from him. She sat up in the bed. Her sadness and dread had disappeared. Anger took its place. That, Richard also knew well from her, that, he could handle. "You ass! Am I nothing to you? Just another woman; there will be others? I'm not another game piece, another price to be paid! How dare you think you can just stroll in here, twist me every which way and leave! You may not look like him, but you are just like him! But I was not afraid of him and I am not afraid of you."

Richard was sure that from the sudden silence in the other room that their conversation was totally audible from the other room. "You aren't afraid of him?"  
Regina's next angry words died as well. "No."  
Richard swallowed the lump growing in his throat. "Why not? Isn't this what this all about? Fear for my father. What he could do to you?"  
Regina frowned and sighed. "No." She stood quickly. She grabbed his suit lapels with a fury that was absent of its usual passion. "Because I know exactly how to hurt him, Ricky." Her eyes flashed with a darkness that he had never seen before. She meant him, that he was what his father loved most, his weakness. Richard paled slightly and Regina dropped her grip, almost immediately, in what looked to be shame.  
Richard shivered. "He already screwed you over really badly, didn't he?"  
Regina did not respond at first, lost in thought. When she did respond her voice was strained and raw. "And what he didn't do to me personally, I did to myself."

"I'm so sorry, Gina. Or whatever your real name is. I think I understand now. You really didn't know who I was. Of all the rotten luck in the world, in a city of millions of people, your new start, in a new world, and you had to fall in love with the one and only person who you would never be able to look at again, without unwarranted hatred for past injuries."  
Tears escaped Regina's eyes. That was something he had never seen before. "My name really is Regina, and I don't hate you."

Richard could feel his energy leaving him. Weary, he looked down at the ground. "Then what is this about Regina?"  
"I did hate you. The idea of you. Baelfire. The boy, the Dark One manipulated a whole lineage to rescue. But I can't hate you now, not when... Baelfire is you." Regina's voice tightened, but her eyes were obviously thinking about all of their good memories together. She sighed. "Plus, I'm tired of hating. That sort of thing mangles your heart into a thousand little pieces. I'd like to keep the remaining bit of mine unmangled."

Suddenly, Richard saw a little girl. A broken, little girl. Richard grabbed Regina and pulled her close. She stiffened at first, but then relaxed against his chest. "But you are going to hate me."

"Why?"

"Belle, yes, Belle. She is from our world too. Belle, told me you panicked when your father killed someone who hurt you and yet again to protect his secret. That you feared it would only get worse, that he would keep killing and killing."  
Richard nodded.  
Regina laughed bitterly. "He did. He may be a miserable man, but I was just as bad. I've killed more people, then he saved in that first Ogre War." Regina continued her breathing heavy."He also broke his deal with you, to leave his powers behind."  
Richard nodded for this too. "Yes."  
"He never broke another deal in his life, as miserable as that made him or anyone else. But I have. I have done nothing, but lie and manipulate most of my life."  
Richard really wanted that whiskey now and he could smell it on Regina's breath as she sobbed. He closed his eyes and drew her tighter.  
"Did he really steal people's children in magical deals? Like in the story about him here?" He asked the question he had always been afraid to know the answer to.  
"Yes. And placed them in other homes. To be honest though, they were often better homes."  
"I ripped many families apart too, but not in such a compassionate spirit. Sometimes, I even killed fathers and mothers. I'm the damn Evil Queen. I rip the beating hearts out of people's chests. And I agreed to help him destroy a whole world to get here, all in the name of revenge on a little girl, whom I wrongly blamed all of my suffering on. Every tree you knew, every valley, every river, lost to us. Just a bunch of miserable people remain. Aliens in a world that will never truly be their own."

"Why are you telling me this?" Richard asked sadly, his chest tightening.  
"Because of our deal." Regina sighed. "That we would share only as much about our pasts as the other did or found out."  
Richard flinched. "Arrangement."  
"See, I never noticed that before, but you do, do that." Regina softly and bitterly laughed. "Semantics, Ricky. Deal, arrangement. Same thing."

"And because David was right..." Regina took a deep breath and repeated herself a bit louder. "I know you heard that Snow White. David was damn right."  
The room outside got deathly quiet again.  
Regina turned her attention back to Richard, but it was clear he wasn't the only one listening now.  
"What we had was great, but it was a lie. You can't possibly truly love that which you do not fully know. And now you do. So it was amazing, but it must be over."  
Richard swallowed, his heart beating a mile a minute. Snow White. The beautiful woman with black hair, ruby lips and pale skin. Regal and yet wounded. Yet, part of Regina's little strange family. That story was real too, in some way. But how much? What else was real?

"Why?"

Regina seemed confused that he hadn't gotten it. "Did you not just hear everything I said, what I have done? ...who would love someone like me?"  
The silence was painful, but Regina could see Richard was deep in thought, processing everything. However, he did not break the silence.

"I did." A voice from across the room. An old, worn and yet painfully familiar voice. Richard looked up. Regina's cell phone was on the desk across the room and for the first time Richard noticed that it was on.  
Silence.  
"I told you that if you wanted to hear his voice, that you were to keep quiet." Regina growled. "That was the deal."  
A dry laugh. "So maybe I haven't changed after all, eh? Still making and breaking deals."  
Rumplestiltskin cleared his throat. "I cared, Regina or I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble and believe me, you were so much more trouble to rescue then you could possibly imagine. You and your mother."

Richard began to tear up. His father's voice. Not the Dark One, his father's. Not only did it sound like his fuzzy memory, but his words were kind and gentle.

"If you had cared about me, you wouldn't have told me how to fix the curse. You wouldn't have let me rip out my own father's heart." Regina countered harshly.  
"Ah, but I didn't tell you how to fix the curse, you already knew the requirements, my dear child. I merely reminded you of the price. A price that you were still willing to pay, despite your reservations."  
Regina growled slightly, but didn't challenge this.  
"But a father loves all of his children, no matter how painful. That is what kept me any shade of decent all those years. A father loves even those children who are not his own, because blood doesn't really matter. Right Bae?"  
Richard gave a soft painful gasp. It took him a second to recover from being addressed so familiarly once again.  
"I knew it. You denied it every time, but I knew it wasn't true."  
"You did?" Rumplestiltskin gave a start.  
Richard gave his own dry laugh. "Oh come on, I don't look anything like you. And you didn't have to have ears, even as a young boy, to hear the volume of rumors about my mother."

Regina frowned and looked up. "You aren't his son?"  
"Not by blood." Richard sighed. But Regina seemed to be. "But you are related to him, aren't you?"

Regina nodded slightly. "Many generations forward." She snorted and directed her next thoughts towards the phone. "And you stayed back, you didn't interfere, because blood is thicker than water, eh? Or was this more of killing two birds with one stone? Did Belle set this up? Is this some sort of twisted, forced happy ending? Because you are wrong, if you think that this will work. You may not have magic anymore, but you are still a mad and disturbed imp, trying to control people's lives." Regina was starting to rant, getting worked up.

Rumplestiltskin sighed, ignoring this. "If you want to see me again, Bae, you know where to find Belle."  
Richard smiled slightly, even though his father couldn't possibly have seen that. "Glad to see that you don't take her crap either."  
There was a slight chuckle. Then silence.  
"Do you still love me, Bae?" His father's voice was strained and Richard could tell it was hard for him to ask this.

Richard sighed and answered painfully. "I don't know, yet."

"Did you...do you hate me, Bae?"

"No."

Silence.

"I suppose that is as much as I could hope for. I'll leave you two to figure out the answers to your own questions." Rumplestiltskin sighed in relief and hung up the phone.

Regina picked up the phone.  
"Not what you had hoped would happen, was it?" Richard asked coldly. "Figured I'd say horrible things about hating him or how much I had suffered. Wanted to make him miserable?"

Regina stared at the phone for a minute, then she flung it against the bedroom door and watched it break apart and fly about the room. Then she took a deep opened the door. "Get the hell of this apartment!"

The congregated group in the kitchen blinked. "I'm certain that this is Henry's apartment..." Emma began before being cut off by a look from Snow. "Let's go everyone, clearly our presence is not helping." Henry squared his shoulders and shooed his family out.

Emma promptly sat down on the steps outside the townhouse, like a teenager. Henry gave her an annoyed look. "She didn't say how far we had to go. So I'm parking it right here."

Snow sighed. "We shouldn't have told her. Someone...should have kept it a secret." She glared angrily at David. "That is what got me and therefore us into this mess in the first place, not keeping secrets."

"Could you see this having worked out any better if she found out that we knew and didn't tell her?" August offered.  
Snow glared at him too. Emma gave August a warning look. Her mother rarely got this pissed off and angsty any more, but when she did...well you ought not to stick your head in the lion's mouth.

Luckily for her husband's sanity and health, Carrie, Henry's girlfriend, interrupted her response. She was carrying a trash bag with a trash compactor in pieces in it and a box under her arm. Sorrow was in her eyes and confusion on her face at seeing the family on the steps.  
She didn't ask, however and she placed the bag down. "Here lies the Beast. World's Evilest Compactor." And she handed the new box to Henry. "Here is the new trash compactor, Henry. So your landlord won't notice that I destroyed the other one."  
Henry nodded in thanks and handed the box to August. He kicked the bag. "Good riddance."  
"The Beast?" Snow cautiously asked.

Emma laughed quietly and darkly. "Henry named the infernal contraption, the Beast. That stupid compactor had a circuit that kept malfunctioning."  
Carrie nodded grimly. "It would go off at random intervals without the switch being flipped. It kept waking him up at night and you could never leave anything in or near the sink for fear that when it rattled the whole house that it would eat whatever fell down into it."  
"So why destroy it, Henry, if you are moving out?" Snow asked.

Henry sighed. He looked up at his girlfriend, who was still very depressed looking. Beyond the usual mild tortured artist vibe she usually gave off. "There is nothing left, is there?" He asked sadly and gave her a smile.

Carrie handed him a plastic bag. Inside was a diamond and one small segment of a chain. "That was all I could recover. The rest must been ground up enough and have washed further down the pipes. Gone for good."

Emma frowned. "Is that?"  
Henry muttered. "All that is left of her heart."  
Carrie hung her head. "I tried to warn her not to leave her ring on the sink when she was helping to clean. I could just see it falling in. So she took off her necklace to put it on the chain with her... other ring and..." She kicked the trash bag too. "You saw it, Henry, it spooked her..."

"And she dropped it." Henry finished.

"And then we came and let it out that her fiance was Baelfire. Regina really is having a shitty day, isn't she?" August muttered.

Carrie looked ready to cry and clenched her jaw tight.  
Henry embraced her. "This is not your fault."  
"Oh, does that really matter? Won't it become my fault anyway?" Carrie buried her face into his chest. "Isn't that what she does?" She cynically added. No one challenged this statement, yet Carrie apologized to Henry anyway.

Snow shifted uncomfortably and she didn't push off David's arm that appeared around her shoulder.  
Emma fingered the ring on her thumb, Daniel's matching ring, her lifeline to reality for all these years. She knew what to do. This was the moment. Emma stood up. She grabbed the bag from Henry.  
"Are you going back in there?" August asked. "That doesn't seem wise."

Snow looked up worried. "Emma?"

Emma turned and spoke. "What would you say, eh? If you were the one to hand her this bag?"

Snow shrugged. "I'm not sure anything would come out."  
David tightened his grip around her. "You love that which you have lost the most?"  
Henry bit his lip. "Your love for Daniel and Richard is strong. You have lost your tokens, perhaps, of their loves, but what you have in your heart can't be taken away."

Emma smiled grimly. "Oh, Henry. I love you, but that is a load of psychological crap. That is why I'm going in. When I came to Storybrooke, I stayed because of you. But I kept trying to leave, because I was tired. Tired of looking at Regina. Too painful was it to see how much we had in common. How close I was, how easy it would be, to become that."

Emma held up her right hand where the ring sat on her thumb. "But I have more to give her then a bag of the remains of her strength. And our similarities are going to hopefully make the difference today."

There was confusion written across their faces. No one, but Henry knew her secret. And Henry's eyes seemed to widen and understanding entered them. "Are you sure that you are strong enough?" He sounded like he was her mother for a moment.

Emma awkwardly smiled. "If I waited until I was completely sure of anything, then you all would be stuck, clueless in Storybrooke, unloved and unaware. So I'm going to finish my job now. I think it's about time." And she turned and went inside the lion's den.

Regina was sitting at the kitchen table and it seemed like Richard and her had been talking about the history of his father and his mission. "Why are you still here?" She growled upon seeing Emma.

Emma laid the bag on the table. Regina's breath hitched in her chest.  
"That's all that's left. The sewers of New York have claimed the rest. And I have chosen to be the messenger hoping that you will shoot me instead of the poor young girl outside in tears. A girl who understands that anyone could be your new Snow White, more easily than most."  
Regina blinked, then sighed. "Carrie has nothing to fear from me."

She picked up the bag and inspected the contents. "Nothing remains of Daniel, then." Her voice was cold and emotionless. Walls.  
Emma sat down as though she was invited. "Your ring from him is gone."

Regina stared, not looking anywhere. Emma placed her arms on the table in front of her. "Henry wanted to come in here and say some crap about the loss of a token, not being the loss of your love. But you and I, Regina, know better." Emma sighed. "That was all you had left. Your heart had already been squeezed out with his. Any love you have displayed since then, has been a new blossom that has had push its way out of the ground. Started from scratch."  
Regina looked ready to say something in argument, but Emma cut her off. "Just like Henry and I. I had to start from scratch with him. His father, I thought he had loved me, but he ripped out my heart just the same. I never loved so easily again. But once I loved Henry, truly loved him, despite his father, despite myself, then loving others was ten times easier."

Regina met Emma's eyes. Sorrow was set in them, but something else, Emma couldn't place as well. "Luckily, for me, my someone had the forethought to create a way for me to see beyond my own heartache and into a new way of thinking. Gave me a purpose, a mission, a family and world to rescue. A simple storybook, which caused me to reevaluate everything I knew." Henry had really parented his own mother and himself in some strange way.

Emma twisted the ring on her finger once more. "So, I have come to do the same for you."  
"Luckily, a different certain person had the forethought to create a new way for you to see the world, beyond your heartache, and into a new way of thinking. A love, a family, and a heart to save."

Regina frowned. "You talk in riddles. I hate riddles."

Emma smiled broadly. "Me too."

"Let me make this clear. Daniel, a Seer, as I hear it, had the forethought to get a ring for a life that was never going to happen, because he knew you would need a token, something to remind you of love. So that no matter how bitter you became, you would have one redeeming quality. That you believed in love, true love. So strong was your belief that you would try to prevent it left and right in others. It had been ripped from you and the pain destroyed you. You believed in its power to create and to destroy."

Emma twisted her own ring. Her wedding band from August. "A belief that you would pass on. That no matter how miserable you made my mother, she knew that when you tried to destroy her love, that it was because you feared it, its power. Something you would do the same for me. That in your darkness, you showed me the light. I embraced finally, that which you feared the most. And for that I thank you, Regina Mills. I thank you for every last bit of crap, you have put me through in this life, because I have emerged a better person. Loved at last and able to love once more."

Regina was stunned, tears forming. Emma smiled, her heart fluttered and she continued with the grace and poise of a leader.  
"You and I, Regina, we can't live like Henry, completely on faith. You and I, we need our proof. We need our tokens."

Emma slowly took the ring off her finger. Daniel's ring. "Someone luckily had the forethought to buy two rings. Someone who knew that one token couldn't possibly be enough for someone who has had to suffer as you have. As I have." Emma placed the ring on the table in front of Regina. "I have been wearing this for years. In the darkness of the mines, I was guided to a token, something that kept me centered in reality. Something that proved I wasn't insane, that the Beast lied, that love is the most powerful thing of all. But you need it more than me, Regina. I have my own token now." Emma fingered her own wedding band again with a smile.

Richard who had been silent up to this point, interrupted. "That is a load of crap. If love was so powerful, the most powerful of all, then why isn't the world saved? Why is the darkness ever present? Why hasn't good conquered evil?"

Regina picked up the ring. She held it, rubbing it around in her fingers as though she couldn't believe it was real. "This is Daniel's ring?"  
Emma nodded. "The second half of your heart, the matching set."

"Love leaves a person, raw, open and vulnerable. Love isn't easy, safe, or even powerful. Love is weakness, that's what it is." Richard muttered still stuck in his own thoughts, grim and bitter.

Regina turned in shock. Her mother's words. She then looked at the ring again. Daniel's ring.  
The man who had died not because of her, but for her. Not quite how she had initially understood it. "You spoke with...he talked to...?" Regina trailed off in disbelief.

"And your weakness is my strength. And my weakness is your strength." Emma spoke, the last words Daniel had ever said to her. "He rescued me, so there would be someone to rescue Henry. And therefore someone to rescue you."

Regina's eyes lit up at the familiar words. Daniel's own definition of true love, given to her many, many years ago, in a moment of fear and sadness. Something that finally had a whole new meaning.  
Snow had paved some of the roads back into her heart when she had submitted to her torments, not when she had fought against them. And Henry, caring for him as an infant, weak and helpless, had deepened the paths. And only in the times when she had allowed him to help her, had she allowed him to truly love her back. And Richard...well their wounds seemed to compliment each other, each strong in ways the other was not.

For a moment, Emma saw a 19 year old girl. Young and full of promise.  
Richard did too and a peace settled over him. "My mother was right." Regina laughed, sounding slightly demented. "Love is damn weakness." She turned to Richard. "But for the first time in my life, I don't see that as a bad thing." Regina suddenly was on the floor. "Will you be weak with me, Ricky?" Her voice slightly trembled. She held up the ring. Daniel's ring.

Richard was stunned. Then he cocked his head in thought and smiled broadly. "It's Baelfire."

Emma silently stood and backed away. Suddenly, she was no longer needed.

"Is that a yes?" Regina growled. "I'm down on the floor here."  
Baelfire got down on the ground with her, his joints creaking. "Yes. Crazy bitchiness and all." He allowed her to place it on his finger.  
Suddenly, they were on each other, passionately kissing.

Emma sped out the door and closed it quickly behind her. The others jumped. Emma's face however was beaming. "And that is how you save a world." Henry raised an eyebrow. "Later." Emma mouthed.

Snow stood and Emma embraced her, burying her face in her shoulder. Snow gasped, but tightened her arms around her. Emma had accepted hugs over the years, but never before had she initiated one. "I'm sorry for every miserable thing I thought about you, before and after I knew you were my mother. You took the biggest leap of faith when you gave me up. Something that doesn't come naturally to you, I know. Just like it doesn't come naturally to me. Thank you for loving me, for being weak enough to let me go. To give me my best chance at life and love. It didn't matter, I see now, if I never came back for you. It was never about you, it was about the other person. It always is with love."

Snow began to sob. David was at her side immediately. "I'm sorry, David, for being harsh with you." He joined in the hug. "So I can speak now?" David asked jokingly. Snow sobbed louder. "Yes."

"Don't worry, she's just happy, Dad." Emma muttered with a smile. "It'll pass soon enough." David met Emma's eyes and the two of them burst out laughing. Snow stuck in the middle seemed relieved and yet very confused. "Is this another inside joke that I missed?" Emma laughed harder.

"Let's get some dinner. I'm sure Rose would like to be relieved of two little urchins." August suggested with a smile and everyone seemed to agree with him.

"So, do you think Rumplestiltskin planned to get them together?" Henry asked his mother as they started walking, taking one last look back at his apartment.  
"Nope."  
"Oh?"  
Emma zipped up her jacket. "Because Rumpelstiltskin couldn't have planned this twisted little redemption, a whole town slowly redeemed, if he had tried for thousands of years. He may have been powerful, and had a bit more foresight than most people, but no, still too far above him."  
"What about Jefferson and Grace?" Henry asked curiously.  
"The idiot and the brave little girl? No. They are part of the designing process, but even they couldn't possibly see the big picture as it requires." Emma replied with a smile. "It would have to be bigger than that."

"Do you Emma, believe in a God?" Carrie asked cautiously, rubbing the small cross tattoo on her wrist.

"I think I'm beginning to, for the first time. For the first time, I have found myself believing in a lot of things bigger than myself."

**_And they all lived...and loved. And sometimes they were happy. _**

Thanks again, all my readers. It was fun and I wish Once upon a Time will continue to come up with something with just as much heart. Because everyone deserves love.


End file.
